The following discussion of the prior art is intended to place the invention in an appropriate context and to allow the unique characteristics and advantages of it to be more fully understood. However, any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an express or implied admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
One broad category of gaming activity is “fixed-odds” based, often referred to as wagering, which is typical of most types of sports betting and bookmaking operations. In this form, players bet on event outcomes, and a gaming operator defines a payout ratio (commonly referred to as “odds”) for each event outcome. This payout ratio expresses the amount by which the stake of a player differs from that of the gaming operator. In the case that a player bets on an event outcome that is subsequently identified as a winning outcome, the player receives a prize based on the quantum of bet placed and the payout ratio. It will be appreciated that, in such gaming activities, the definition of payout ratios by the gaming operator is, to some extent, an exercise in risk management. In particular, the operator does not know, at the time of defining payout ratios, which event outcome or outcomes will be identified as winning outcomes. As such, a careful balance must be reached—the general objective is to offer payout ratios that are sufficiently speculative to entice player participation in relation to a range of mutually exclusive event outcomes, yet sufficiently conservative over the full range of event outcomes so as to maintain operator risks and profit margins within acceptable thresholds over time. In some cases, where the payout ratios sway towards the former end of the spectrum, the gaming operator runs at a loss in relation to a given event.
The fixed-odds format of gaming has remained generally unchanged for a long period of time, due in part to various rigidities stemming from the risk management concern associated with managing a fixed-odds prize pool. Commercially, there is an inherent desire to entice greater participation, however this is difficult to achieve without an operator taking on a greater amount of risk. From the players' perspective, there is an inherent desire for a more diverse range of gaming activities and the potential for improved payout ratios. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved and/or different systems and methods for fixed-odds based gaming activities.